First Contact
by astraea2
Summary: How did Spike and Dawn first meet and become friends? Okay, any excuse for a S4 fic....


Okay, I always wondered about the D/S friendliness. Also, I never get tired of S4 Spike-in-Giles-house, being a complete pain in the ass. So, what if Dawn had been there? Wouldn't they have bonded? Hey, I've written a Dawn-based fic!!!!!

Timeline: S4, post Pangs.

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Joss owns the real world, in which Dawn didn't appear until S5 anyway, so I'm not sure why there's any need to clarify that point at all……. 

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"Why did you bring Dawn?" asked Giles, with an impatient edge to his voice.

"Mom made me," was the succinct reply. "Deal."

"Yes, well, it's just that under the circumstances….." Giles indicated the ever-present vampire, bound to the chair but not gagged. He made a mental note to see about a gag. 

"Feel the love," grouched Dawn, slumping into a chair and throwing a ferocious glare at the chained vampire whose presence was making her own even less welcome than usual.

"Dawn!" yelped a concerned sister. She made a scootching motion with her hand.

"What?" replied Dawn, determined to be uncooperative. _Can't even sit in the same room as a vampire.__ Might get corrupted. Might get like Buffy. She looked innocently at her sister._

"Not so close to Spike," Buffy grumbled, indicating a seat on the far side of the room. "And don't look at him. And don't…"

"Breathe?" finished Dawn. "Wouldn't dream of it." She left her chosen seat and moved to the one required, making as much noise as possible as she dragged her feet and – accidentally - overturned a big rock. Big rocks in Giles' house were usually *special* big rocks, and sure enough, he sighed deeply, removed his glasses, and glared at Buffy. Dawn smirked, and for a moment was she sure the big-evil-vampire-thing grinned at her.

She scowled at it.

"I thought he was in the bath?" Buffy was saying - no, complaining.

"He was, but I was overwhelmed by the sudden need to actually take a shower," was Giles' response. "So I set him free upon the world, in that I tied him firmly to a chair."

"You should have called me," Buffy grumbled.

"I can tie one vampire securely to a chair myself, you know!"

"Boy scout's knots?" Buffy was laughing now. Giles glared.

"Isn't he all, you know, can't-kill-people?" interrupted Dawn curiously, watching the argument and the vampire with equal interest. It wasn't often that she got to see her sister be a pain in the butt with other people and it was pretty much never that she got to see a real live dead vampire.

"Dawn! He's a _vampire. What have I told you about vampires?" Buffy sounded exasperated._

Dawn considered this for a moment. "Not to sleep with them and make them loose their souls?" 

Buffy blanched, Giles removed his glasses for the second time and the vampire chuckled.

"_Stay away from the vampire!" Buffy growled, shaking a finger at the vampire in question._

"But if he can't bite people?"

"And how do you know what he can't do?" asked Buffy in a tone that expects to win arguments.

"Willow," said Dawn. _Ha. Beat that with a pointy stick. "Willow *said*."_

"Willow should know better." Buffy sounded frustrated. "We don't even know yet….. And you're still to stay away from him!"

"Oh, come on! What's he going to do to me? Call me names?" Dawn left her designated sitting area and walked towards Spike. He eyed her suspiciously. She poked him in the shoulder and he growled.

Screeching, Buffy ran at them, grabbing Dawn by the arm and pulling her away, then returning to smack Spike around the head.

"Don't you *ever* do that again!" she yelled at Dawn. "And don't ever think about *looking* at my sister again!" she screamed at Spike, punctuating her order with a vicious punch.

"Giles!" complained the vampire. "I didn't do nothing!"

"Truest words you've ever spoken." Giles sighed more deeply than ever, assessing what would soon become general mayhem.

"Buffy?" he said. "There was a reason for this evening. Research?"

"Huh?"

"With the books? And the reading?" he reminded her. "To find out about the…" he remembered Dawn. "The uh……" He indicated Spike with a wave of his hand.

"The fucking wankers that did this to me? I hope you string them up!" offered Spike. Buffy thumped him again.

"Mind your mouth in front of my little sister!" she hissed.

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, Buffy. I've heard you say…"

"Research!" shouted Buffy brightly, turning to her Watcher with a pleading look. "Let's do research!"

"And Dawn?" enquired Giles.

"Oh! I can help with research!" volunteered Dawn, with great enthusiasm.

Buffy, who had seemed confused, now made up her mind quickly. "NO research!" she intoned, in a voice of doom.

Dawn scowled. "I could so do research," she muttered resentfully. "And when was the last time _you read a book?" Again, she thought she noticed a benevolent grin from the vampire in the corner. She stuck out her tongue at it. _

"Giles?" wailed Buffy.

"This was why I was surprised that you brought her," offered Giles. "We're going to be looking up books that are most unsuitable and the alternative is……"

"I can eat her for you if it makes things any easier?" offered Spike, helpfully.

He received for his trouble a punch in the ribs from Buffy and a magick-rock in the head from Dawn.

"See, I can defend myself against the vampire that can do absolutely nothing to me?" said Dawn encouragingly. "Or, I could help you look at books and explain what they mean?" She smiled patronisingly at her sister.

"Giiiles!!" Buffy groaned. 

"She's quite safe here," said Giles soothingly. "You'll only be in the next room."

"Hear that, Fangface? I'll be in the next room. If you try anything……!"

"Quivering in my S&M bondage gear," he replied cheerfully.

"And I'm fine too," said Dawn pointedly. 

"Just don't, you know, do anything?" Buffy begged, looking pleadingly at her sister.

Dawn gave her a mutinous glare and slid further into her seat.

Annoying adults left. She continued to glare at the remaining vampire.

He – it – he – stretched out and yawned.

"So you can't bite," Dawn stated, feeling the need to get the facts straight.

"Your sister's a bitch," he countered.

Hmm. "Well, yeah, but you're a vampire. Vampires are way evil, so Buffy's allowed kick your ass." 

"So why's she allowed to pick on you?" 

"That's not even the point," said Dawn, with as much contempt as she could muster, looking firmly in the opposite direction.

"Yeah."

Silence. Dawn considered the situation. This was the closest she'd got to a vampire…..except for those few unfortunate times with the capturing and the hostage-ness and the Buffy-having-to-save-her-life. And except for Angel.

This was different. She could beat this vampire up herself if she wanted to. She could hit him, he couldn't hit her. And Buffy *still* didn't want her around.

"You're _so not scary," she informed him, confidently._

He went all fangy and vampire-y and she suddenly recalled the oft-repeated lectures about not taunting vampires. But, she reminded herself firmly, this one was all tied up, and there was something about - his head would explode if he tried to bite her?

"Still not as ugly as Angel," she said smugly, watching in amazement as his face slid back to human and he began to laugh.

"Spent a hundred years tryin' but that one's a lost cause," he agreed. "What've you got against the pillock? He try and eat you?"

"He's stupid," she retorted, wondering about the ethics of getting drawn into conversations with vampires. "He was stupid before he went evil and he was stupid after he was evil. And he's even worse now."

She frowned deeply. "All vampires are stupid," she added.

"Some vampires are hungry," said Spike, deliberately ignoring the insult to his type.

Dawn sniffed. "You can't bite, so hey, tough."

"There's blood in the fridge," he informed her, "But they wouldn't give it to me." He scowled at the memory.

She frowned. "Why not? And, by the way, eeww?"

"Vindictive bastards think if they starve me to death they…'ll starve me to death," he concluded. At Dawn's raised eyebrow he continued plaintively, "They're blackmailing me. I came here of my own free will and now they won't feed me unless I tell them stuff I can't even remember. I've already been neutered by the bloody army, now they won't even give me pig's blood! And I'm hungry!" he whined.

Dawn's brow furrowed. "That's not right," she said, thoughtfully. "There's the Geneva Convention and Human Rights and we learned about this stuff in school. Making prisoners confess by mistreating them is illegal! Under the Geneva Convention, prisoners of war have to be fed and they can't be mistreated for refusing to confess!" She was quite shocked now. Buffy being mean was nothing new, but this was breaking several international laws.

"And this applies to vampires too?" enquired Spike with a wry smile. "Must get me a layer!"

Dawn's face fell. "I guess not. But still, you should be allowed to eat." She looked at his various chains and shackles. There was no way she was falling for that one again. His chatter and clear dislike of both Angel and Buffy was quite winning but she was _not getting into trouble with any more vampires. On the other hand…._

"I suppose I could get you some blood?" she offered, with a tinge of reluctance and a wrinkled nose.

"Take it out of the fridge and pour it into a cup. Then put it in the microwave for two minutes on medium. No more than that, it's not to boil. Then let it stand before you take it out."

Dawn stared. She hadn't realised she was signing up for 'Gourmet Blood-Heating-for-Finicky-Pigs.'   

"You're worse than Buffy," she sighed, leaving the room.

"And not in the sodding librarian mug!" he called, "I have some self respect, you know!"

Dawn's head appeared around the door. "Self respect?" she enquired with an innocent smile.

"Sod off and get me blood!" he growled, sulking.

"Big baby," he heard, as she vanished again.

His features softened to a smile. The sister of the Slayer was a by-word amongst vampires. Everyone wanted to capture the girl; kidnap her and hold her to ransom; threaten the Slayer by way of her. It occurred to him that he rather liked her. She had……something about her – smarter than the rest of the bloody gang by a head and more, that was obvious. And she was getting him blood instead of taking the piss out of his….little problem.

"This cup good enough for Your-Scariness?" she asked with a smirk, waving the blood under his nose.

He grinned. This would be fun. Giles was apparently the possessor of a fine Sex Pistols mug. 

"You're not bad for a human," he said, slurping appreciatively through the straw.

"You're not completely bad – for a vampire." She looked with distaste at his noisy blood-consumption. "But you're still really gross."

He noted the direction of her gaze. "Yeah, this stuff is pretty gross," he agreed. "But the real thing is…." He broke off, a dreamy smile on his face.

"Yeuch," Dawn reminded him. "If you're going to talk about eating real people I'm taking your blood away and telling Buffy on you!"

"And I'll tell Buffy you talked to the evil vampire and got it blood," Spike countered.

She made a move to withdraw the cup and he yelped in protest. "I'll be good. Promise."

Dawn smirked at her success in vamp-handling. She'd be a pro yet.

Her satisfaction was short lived, ended by the entrance of Xander and his look of utter horror.

"Dawn, get away from that vampire!" ordered Xander nervously.

"Who's afraid of the neutered vampire?" scoffed Dawn with a show of bravado. She wasn't scared of the neutered vampire, admittedly, but was a little nervous about Buffy hearing of this.

"Put the cup down and walk towards me," said Xander, with his best imitation of staying calm in a crisis.

Dawn rolled her eyes and reluctantly put the cup on the ground.

"Oi!" Spike complained, "I was drinking that!"

Ignoring him, Xander continued his rant. "I can't believe you did that Dawn. That's a killer! He could take the hand off you."

Spike snorted. "What am I, a bloody rottweiler?"

"That's exactly what you are, my friend," said an advancing Xander. "And you're going to be getting put down any of these days."

"Xander!" squeaked Dawn, "Don't!" She tugged on his sleeve. "Don't be so mean!"

"What in the name of good god is all the commotion?" demanded Giles, entering the fray, and turning on the presumed cause. "Spike, be fully aware that there is a Slayer in the next room who is more than happy to stake you at my word. And I will give her that word if you can't BE QUIET!"

"And I'll have you know that under the Geneva Convention a prisoner of war has the right to be fed and can't be mistreated for refusing to answer questions put to him by some librarian wanker," Spike informed him smugly. 

Giles gaped. 

"Oh, and Rupert, I really like the cup."


End file.
